The EC has announced its backing for a new climate change framework to improve the scientific accuracy of climate forecasts and modeling. In the run-up to the Copenhagen Conference, the Global Framework for Climate Services is designed to develop better science-based climate change information and understanding of how the process of climate change works.
José Manuel Silva Rodríguez, general director of the EC Directorate-
"Enough evidence has been gathered to justify climate change policy action, but knowledge needs to progress further on the understanding of the climate change system, on the evaluation of the impacts and the identification and assessment of climate change options or mitigation and adaptation,"
Ifti Akbar from Envido, reiterates the need for a deeper understanding of climate change. "We already know that we will have to mitigate the consequences of climate change and this should be best done on the basis of best possible scientific data on climate change."
The EC is backing the climate change data framework because of its global reach and claims that there must be a global consensus on the impact of climate change if meaningful actions are to be taken. Moreover, the EC stressed that the availability of globally recognised climate change information, tools, methods and models is crucial, especially for developing countries that are likely to suffer most from the negative effects of climate change.
The development of the framework is being overseen by the WMO and discussed at the UN World Climate Conference in Geneva this week. Since 2004 the EC said it has funded more than 130 climate change related projects with more than €540m (£471m).
